basil

Neil and I decided (very) last minute that we would partake in the Pete’s Greens CSA again this summer since we love their produce. Last week was the first pick up because we were away we ended up giving away most of it except the potatoes and garlic scapes that we had for our camping breakfast. This week we received:

Bag of Mesclun Greens

Beet Greens

Napa Cabbage

Sweet Salad Turnips

Garlic Scapes

Scallions

Zucchini

Easter Egg Radishes

Sage

Potatoes

Tonight is the first of many meals using these amazing organic and local ingredients. Enjoy- I know we did!

Garlic Scape Pesto Pasta with Zucchini

Yields 4 servings

Takes about 30 minutes total to make

Ingredients:

Garlic Scape Pesto

1 cup raw walnut pieces

1 bunch of garlic scapes (about 1 to 3/4 cup), chopped

4 cups basil leaves

2/3 cup olive oil

1t salt

1T sesame seeds

2T nutritional yeast

Place the walnuts and garlic scapes in the bowl of a food processor and process until small crumble. Add in the basil leaves, turn the processor on low and slowly stream in the olive oil through the feed tube. Add in the salt, sesame seeds and nutritional yeast; process to combine.

Sauteed Zucchini

2 medium zucchini, sliced into half moons

Cooking Spray

1/2t salt

1/4t black pepper

1/2t garlic powder

1t nutritional yeast

Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Spray with cooking spray and toss in the zucchini and saute for 3-4 minutes just until they start to lightly brown. Stir in the salt, pepper, garlic powder and nutritional yeast; cook for 2 more minutes.

4 servings of pasta of your choice

In a large bowl toss the pasta, zucchini and 1/4 to 1/3 of the pesto together. Serve warm, room temp or cold!

The pesto makes a lot more than you need for this dish so place any extra in a jar top with a layer of olive oil and seal tightly. Store in the freezer until you need it again. To defrost move from the freezer to the fridge 8 hours before using.

For dessert we shared one of these wonderful vegan, raw, gluten free tarts from Hail Merry.

It was one of the best desserts I have ever tried and I am looking forward to picking up the other 3 flavors over the next month. It was so rich and the perfect balance of creamy chocolate, cookie crust and almond butter center- to die for.

Nutrition Tuesday is turning into Food Tuesday this week because I’m really excited to share my recipe from tonight’s dinner. I am tired out tonight and am having a hard time focusing writing a more informative post but don’t worry things will be back on track for next week. Okay so lets talk food; first lets rewind to last nights dinner. Last night the Hubz took over dinner and made VeganYumYum’s Easy Weekend Pancakes as part of the Cookbook Club.
With our pancakes we had a side of fruit (I was too full to eat my dates) and we topped our pancakes with a little almond butter, chocolate chips (for fun) and a homemade blue-raspberry sauce. Overall we thought the pancakes were good but they weren’t our favorite; we probably won’t make them again.

Dinner tonight was all about making a nice restaurant dinner at home. The Hubz and I have been trying to have more date nights in and I am loving it because that means more time in the kitchen; as the Hubz says “I have my groove back.” So tonight I decided to make a delicious Italian inspired meal of pesto manicotti, red wine and raspberry vanilla soygurt parfait.

Presto Pesto Manicotti

Yields 4-5 Servings

Preheat Oven 350F

Cashew-Basil Pesto

3 garlic cloves

1t salt

1/3 cup raw cashews

2T nooch

1 bunch of basil

1/3 C olive oil

1/4 C water

In the bowl of a food processor place the garlic and salt; pulse 5-6 times.

Add the cashews and nooch and pulse 5 times.

Add the basil and process on low; steam the olive oil and then the water in through the feed tube.

Remove from the food processor and set aside- don’t clean the food processor out though use it for your tofu ricotta!

Tofu Ricotta (make in the processor that has the pesto remains, you don’t want to miss out on any yummy goodness)

1 block extra firm tofu

2T nooch

1/3C almond milk

2 garlic cloves

1t salt

1/2t black pepper

1/3 cup shredded vegan cheese (optional)

To the food processor add everything to the bowl and process on low until the tofu mixture is smooth.

10 manicotti shells (cook by directions)

1/2 cup shredded vegan cheese (optional)

Assembly

In a 9×12 baking dish evenly spread a 1/4 cup of pesto on the bottom of the dish. Fill 10 cooked manicotti shells and place in the baking dish in one layer. Top with remaining pesto- spreading it evenly over the manicotti. Sprinkle with shredded vegan cheese, if using. Cover the baking dish with tin foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 10 more minutes. ENJOY!

The husband and I love Asian food- Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese, Burmese, Japanese-you get the point; so for dinner I like to play around with Asian flavors to make yummy dishes. We love to go out for Asian food but we try not to get it out too much because of portion control, high calorie sauces and budget. Making your own “take-in” helps to reduce over eating and allows you to create healthier versions of your favorite dishes; here are three of my favorite “take-in” dishes for two.

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